Regent Exchange Inspires Small Grants for Church Learning Communities
Over the past five years, the Regent Exchange team accompanied a group of local churches in their exploration of calling. Throughout their work, the team experienced the importance of learning in community. In response to the team’s observations and accomplishments, Regent is excited to share a program that encourages church groups to learn together: Small Grants for Church Learning Communities.
This program aims to help churches in Cascadia (southern British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon) grow as learning communities by providing small grants (up to $1,000 CAD) to church groups interested in exploring God's call together. Each grant will help a group, known as a Church Learning Community (CLC), develop and implement a six-month learning initiative or trial project designed to strengthen their congregation’s understanding and practice of its calling. The specific focus of each grant-funded project is up to the group itself, and can be tailored to its particular context.
To learn more about Small Grants for Church Learning Communities, please see the project overview and FAQs.
Interested groups should fill out a proposal form and submit their plans to [email protected] by Friday, January 12, 2024.
About Regent Exchange
Rooted in God's story, Regent Exchange walks with churches in Cascadia connecting faith with all of life and contributing to the common good.
In the course of a five-year journey, Regent Exchange worked with teams from over a dozen congregations in the Cascadia region. Together, the teams and their churches have grown in their understanding of the biblical call to be a reconciling community, and they’ve practiced living out this calling in practical and holistic ways in their neighbourhoods. The Regent Exchange learning journey—which encompassed regular group meetings, learning resources, and coaching—gave church teams space to reflect, pray, process, and debrief as they discerned how God was calling them in their particular social, cultural, and geographical contexts.
Churches were also encouraged to try out "calling experiments" as practical responses to God’s call. Churches pursued a variety of projects, including starting a local arts cooperative, tutoring intermediate English-learning classes for under-resourced families, and hosting a community block party for families and children. As they listened to the needs of their congregations and their surrounding communities, they learned to adjust to unexpected changes (including the Covid-19 pandemic) and persevere together.
In June 2023, Regent Exchange held a closing celebration and invited cohort churches, friends, and partners to gather for a time of worship, fellowship, and sharing their learning. The following video captures highlights from that day. The Regent Exchange team invites you to take a brief look at their journey.
Regent Exchange: Exploring Vocation with Churches in Cascadia